Cigarette container construction



May 1, 1934. A. F. REILLY 1,957,293

v CIGARETTE CONTAINER CONSTRUCTION AFiled March 15, 1930 INVENTOR TTORNEYS Patented May 1934? UNTED STATES PATENT1 @FFE CIGARETTE CONTAINER CONSTRUCTION Application March 15, 1930, Serial No. 436,102

1 Claim.

This invention relates to containers and particularly such as are adapted to hold cigarettes and the like.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a simple and useful article of this character which may be economically produced.

Another object is to produce a container of this type which will readily provide convenient access to the contents thereof.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangements of parts all as will be herein illustratively described, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claim.

In the accompanying drawing in which are shown the features of a selected embodiment of this invention:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view substantially on the line 1 1 of Fig. 2, the cover being in closed position;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view substantially on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view substantially on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional View substantially on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2, the cover being in raised position;

Figs. 5 and 6 are sectional views substantially yon the lines 5 5 and 6 6 respectively of Fig. `4;

Figs. 7 and 8 are detail views, and

Fig. 9 is a detail view of a modied form.

Referring to the drawing, the container 10 is primarily designed to hold cigarettes either in their original package or removed therefrom. 'This container is open at the top and the body 11 thereof may be made of flexible material such as leather, fabric or the like. When a exible body is used, a substantially rigid rim 12 of metal may be provided.

A closure for the open top in the form of a suitable lid or cover 13 may be hingedly mounted on the rim 12 as at 14. A spring latch as 15 of suitable type may be provided to retain the cover in closed position and this latch is released by manual pressure on a tongue 16 projecting through a slot 17 provided for the purpose in the rim 12. The latch may also be operated by pressing the front part of the flexible container 11. rThis latch engages a hook shaped catch 18 on the margin of the cover 13 opposite the hinge 14.

A false bottom as 19 may be placed in the lower portion of the body of the container, and a spring (Cl. 20G-41) of suitable type as 20 interposed between this bottom and the bottom Wall21 of the container to cause the contents of the container as the cigarettes 22 to be forced upwardly and to project through the open top of such container as shown in Fig. 4 when the cover 13 is raised. This provides convenient access to such contents. The false bottom 19 may be connected to the cover 13 as by a rigid member 23 so that the spring 20 acts through the medium of the false bottom 19 and this member to cause the cover 13 to be raised when the latch 15 is released.' This member also acts to limit the upward travel of the false bottom when the cover is raised and causes the false bottom to be depressed against the action of the spring when the cover is moved to closed position.

In the embodiment shown, the member 23 is in the form of a plate substantially fitting between the side walls 24 of the body 11 of the container as shown in Fig. 2, and this plate is formed integral with or attached to the false bottom 19. A similar plate as 25 may be connected to the opposite edge of the false bottom 19 and this plate extends upwardly within the container in substantially the same manner as the plate 23.

A convenient mechanism for connecting the cover 13 to the member 23 is shown in the drawing in which oppositely disposed flanges as extend inwardly'from the opposite margins of the plate forming the member 23 and a portion 31 of each of these flanges may project above the upper edge 32 of such member. In each of these upwardly projecting portions 31 is provided a slot 33 through which projects the corresponding outwardly projecting lug or pin 34 on a substantially U-shaped member 35 secured to the under face of the cover 13 in any convenient manner. IThis forms a pin and slot connection between the cover and the member 23 which permits the cover to swing freely about the axis of its hinged connection while the member 23 moves directly up:- wardly or downwardly within the container or substantially parallel with the opposing wall thereof.

While any convenient form of latch 15 may be provided, the particular latch construction shown comprises a plate 36 having at or near its top, laterally projecting lugs as 37 which are engaged by corresponding downwardly and outwardly bent franges 38 on the upper margin of the rim 12. This plate 36 is slotted as at 39 to form an upwardly extending arm 40 which has its upper extremity bent outwardly to engage with the hook 18 on the cover 13. The tongue 16 acts against this arm 40 and may be formed integral therewith or attached thereto. When this form of latch is used within a exible container, the cover may be released by pressure on the wall of the container below the rim 12 and opposite the plate 36, as such pressure will cause the engaging hook or ilange on the upper extremity of the arm 4G to be disengaged from the catch 18. The spring 29 may be of any convenient type, but a satisfactory form is shown in which a spiral spring is cut from a sheet of spring metal as indicated (Fig. 8) by the lines 41, 42, 43, 44, and 46 and the various convolutions thereof extended to a normal position as shown in Fig. 4. The bottom convolution of this spring is designed to substantially nt and lie iat upon the bottom of the container and the entire spring may telescope, one convolution within another when fully compressed, so that in this position the spring may partially or wholly resume its plate form and thus occupies very little space between the false bottom and the bottom Wall of the container. Furthermore, the flat form of the convolution acts to prevent any distortion of the ilexible bottom of the container. Portions oi the upper margins as of the rim 12 may be crimped about the upper edge oi the body 10 of the container to form a connection between these parts.

Where it is desired to retain the cigarettes in the original package, the upper portion of this package may be torn off suiciently to permit the cigarettes to project a satisfactory amount and preferably so that the upper edge of the package will not project above the rim of the con-- tainer 10, when the parts or the container are in the position indicated in Fig. 4. The package so prepared is then inserted into the container until its base rests upon the false bottom 19. The

position of the package within the container is causes the upper portion ofthe cigarettes to pro'- ject from the container in a position to be readily grasped by the fingers and withdrawn. The contained may be closed by merely pressing the cover downwardly with the nger or in any other convenient manner until the catch 13 engages with the latch. If preferred, the spring 2G may be omitted and the cover 18 raised manually. In this case the raising of the cover acts through the pin and slot connection and the member 23 to lift the false bottom 19 and thus bring the cigarettes to their raised position in the same manner as before.

It will, of course, be obvious that any suitable type of spring construction might be used instead of the spring 2O beneath the false bottom. For example, in Fig. 9 there is shown a modification in which a spring as 60 is placed upon the hinge pin in the hinge 14. This spring 60 acts against the cover 13 to cause the same to be raised and the false bottom to be drawn up by the member 23 when the latch is released. In such a construction, no spring is used beneath the false bottom. Also, that the entire container may be made of metal or other rigid material.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that there is provided a construction of an essentially practical nature in which the several objects of this invention are attained.

As many embodiments may be made of the features of the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is to be understood that all mattei' herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

In a device of the class described, in combination, a flexible parallelepipedal case, a U-shaped false bottom fitting in said case and slidable ver- `'cally with respect thereto, a cover for the case, hinged means connecting the cover and the case, means connecting the cover and the false bottom to cause one of said parts to move the other, and a coil spring under said false bottom and having a base substantially equal to the area of the base of the parallelepiped and adapted to force the false bottom upwardly when the cover is released and to maintain the shape of the case.

ALFRED F. REILLY. 

